LEAP OF FAITH. Directed by Richard Pearce; written by Janus Cercone; produced by Michael Manheim and David V. Picker for Paramount. Starring Steve Martin and Debra Winger. Rated PG-13.
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Steve Martin would make a great evangelist. He's got the energy and charisma, the show business smarts and the just plain chutzpah. And he gets to demonstrate it all in Leap of Faith.
He's got enough talent, in fact, to carry the whole movie. And his character, Jonas Nightengale, dominates the movie and is the most interesting thing about it. But there are a few other nice touches that make Leap of Faith more than just a one-man show.
One of them is Winger, who is always fun to watch, as Jonas's girl Friday. But her character is a an ultimate disappointment, since we'd like to know a lot more about her than we get to.
There's nothing disappointing about the soundtrack, however. Jonas' choir, the gospel-belting "Angels of Mercy," are played by real gospel singers and they sound great.
The movie has a good basic story, too, which is something every movie certainly should have, but surprisingly few actually do. The plot doesn't hold any real surprises, but it's not completely predictable, either. And it manages to arrive at a satisfying conclusion when, at least for a while, I wasn't sure how they were going to pull it off.
Jonas and his entourage (two semis and two customized buses) have truck trouble in Rustwater, Kansas (a great imaginary name for a town that was actually Plainview, Texas). And rather than just take a couple of days off, they decide to put up the tent and do a little business while they wait for the part to come in.
Their business is really entertainment, although they engage in some clever practices that are just-about but not-quite fraud as a part of their act. The best part of the movie is their first "performance" in Rustwater, which we get to see both from the audience and behind the scenes.
An honest sheriff (appealing played by Liam Neeson) who hates to see the financially strapped townspeople separated from even more of their cash, is also involved. As is a teenager (Lukas Haas) who is partially paralyzed and who comes to think that maybe Jonas can help him.
Leap of Faith is at its most entertaining when Jonas is strutting his stuff, either on stage or on the make around Rustwater. And since these scenes make up about 90 percent of the movie, the fact that the rest of it doesn't quite measure up means it's still worth seeing. But especially for Steve Martin fans.
January 20, 1993